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Facebook's Internet.Org App Offers Free Internet in Zambia

Facebook's Internet.Org App Offers Free Internet in Zambia

Jul 31, 2014
Earlier this month, the founder of the Social Networking giant highlighted the future of universal Internet access, the dream that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg wants to fulfil, in an effort to make Internet access available to everyone across the world just like a service as essential as of 911 in the case of an emergency. Dream comes true! Facebook Inc. (FB) in partnership with Bharti Airtel Ltd. (BHARTI) of India today launches its first Android and web application with free data access to a wide range of services, according to Guy Rosen, a product management director at Facebook. This new offering from Facebook is launching in Zambia before coming to other developing countries eventually, and provided through a mobile application known as Internet.org , named after a project developed by the world's biggest social networking site to expand Internet access to the developing world. "Right now, only 15% of people in Zambia have access to the internet, Zuckerberg s
Facebook Founder Wants to Make Internet Availability as Universal as 911 Emergency Service

Facebook Founder Wants to Make Internet Availability as Universal as 911 Emergency Service

Jul 08, 2014
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has a dream to make Internet access available to everyone across the world - Zuckerberg argues Internet should be a service as essential as of 911 in the case of an emergency. In a blog post published Monday in The Wall Street Journal , founder of the social networking giant highlighted the future of universal Internet access, along with the steps he thinks to achieve it. Today 2.7 billion people, just over one-third of the world's population, have access to the Internet, Zuck said, and the adoption has been growing at a very lower rate, by less than 9% each year. The rest of the world's 5 billion people who do not have access to Internet are lacking access due to issues such as high costs or improper infrastructure. One may think that Zuckerberg's vision sounds like a self-interested push to gain more users for its social networking service, Facebook. But its true that the world is currently facing a growing technological divide,
Making Sense of Operational Technology Attacks: The Past, Present, and Future

Making Sense of Operational Technology Attacks: The Past, Present, and Future

Mar 21, 2024Operational Technology / SCADA Security
When you read reports about cyber-attacks affecting operational technology (OT), it's easy to get caught up in the hype and assume every single one is sophisticated. But are OT environments all over the world really besieged by a constant barrage of complex cyber-attacks? Answering that would require breaking down the different types of OT cyber-attacks and then looking back on all the historical attacks to see how those types compare.  The Types of OT Cyber-Attacks Over the past few decades, there has been a growing awareness of the need for improved cybersecurity practices in IT's lesser-known counterpart, OT. In fact, the lines of what constitutes a cyber-attack on OT have never been well defined, and if anything, they have further blurred over time. Therefore, we'd like to begin this post with a discussion around the ways in which cyber-attacks can either target or just simply impact OT, and why it might be important for us to make the distinction going forward. Figure 1 The Pu
Facebook SDK Vulnerability Puts Millions of Smartphone Users' Accounts at Risk

Facebook SDK Vulnerability Puts Millions of Smartphone Users' Accounts at Risk

Jul 03, 2014
Security researchers from MetaIntell, the leader in intelligent led Mobile Risk Management (MRM), have discovered a major security vulnerability in the latest version of Facebook SDK that put millions of Facebook user's Authentication Tokens at risk. Facebook SDK for Android and iOS is the easiest way to integrate mobile apps with Facebook platform, which provides support for Login with Facebook authentication, reading and writing to Facebook APIs and many more. Facebook OAuth authentication or ' Login as Facebook ' mechanism is a personalized and secure way for users to sign into 3rd party apps without sharing their passwords. After the user approves the permissions as requested by the application, the Facebook SDK implements the OAuth 2.0 User-Agent flow to retrieve the secret user's access token required by the apps to call Facebook APIs to read, modify or write user's Facebook data on their behalf. ACCESSING UNENCRYPTED ACCESS TOKEN It is important that
cyber security

Automated remediation solutions are crucial for security

websiteWing SecurityShadow IT / SaaS Security
Especially when it comes to securing employees' SaaS usage, don't settle for a longer to-do list. Auto-remediation is key to achieving SaaS security.
Facebook Introduces Anonymous Login to Limit Third-party App Permissions

Facebook Introduces Anonymous Login to Limit Third-party App Permissions

May 01, 2014
We're comfortable in sharing information with our Facebook friends, but it is quite sneaky for Facebook users to offer their Identities and credentials when logging in to third-party apps , they don't trust. To deal with this issue, the social network giant has plans to improve the way users login to the third party apps with more privacy controls on the web as well as mobile devices. ANONYMOUS LOGIN At Facebook's F8 developer conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, Keynote speaker - Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg announced the new Facebook's login tool, " Anonymous Login " that would let users sign into apps and websites anonymously without sharing their personal information-Biggest news for Facebook users. " Today, we want to do more to put control and power back into people's hands, " Zuckerberg said at the conference. " Up until now, your friends have been able to share your data via using apps. Now we're changing this, so every
New Facebook 'Nearby Friends' Can Track Your GPS Location Continuously

New Facebook 'Nearby Friends' Can Track Your GPS Location Continuously

Apr 21, 2014
Facebook – one of the popular social networking website that connects you worldwide with your friends, families, and many more to your network. Now, Facebook is introducing a new feature named "Nearby Friends" for its Android and iPhone mobile users that will allow them to find their friends when they are nearby. Earlier this month, Facebook added new voice calling feature over Internet functionality for its Messenger app worldwide, that helps its users make free voice calls to their online pals by just tapping the blue phone icon and now Facebook is rolling out its new feature which is completely optional, that means you can turn it ON or OFF at anytime accordingly. LOCATION SHARING TO LIMITED NETWORK If you enable the " Nearby Friends " feature, it's only your friends (friends or close friends or specific friends list) who are able to know your GPS location and nobody else, and that too only if you and your friends both have turned on the 'Nearby Friends' feature on
Why Facebook is buying WhatsApp for $19 Billion?

Why Facebook is buying WhatsApp for $19 Billion?

Feb 21, 2014
Popular Smartphone Messaging app  WhatsApp 's $19 billion acquisition by Social Network giant Facebook  made Headlines this week. While Some are applauding the move, and many other users are worried about WhatsApp's future and their privacy after this acquisition. Why So Serious? WhatsApp currently having 450 million active users and processes 50 billion messages a day. Service charges a nominal service fee of $1/year, that means Facebook is buying at $42.22 per user. $19 Billion / 450 million users  = $42.22 per user These figures show ,  obviously future revenue from WhatsApp can't cover the acquisition cost in the short or mid-term. " You can still count on absolutely no ads interrupting your communication. There would have been no partnership between our two companies if we had to compromise on the core principles that will always define our company, our vision and our product. " WhatsApp founder said in a  blog post . So, What Facebook is
Facebook releases 'Conceal' API for Android developers to Encrypt data on Disk

Facebook releases 'Conceal' API for Android developers to Encrypt data on Disk

Feb 07, 2014
Many Smartphone applications support, installation or app data storage to an external SD Card, that can be helpful in saving space on the internal memory, but also vulnerable to hackers. Typically, an app that has permission to read and write data from an SD card has the permission to read all data on that card, including information written by other apps. This means that if you install a malicious application by mistake, it can easily steal any sensitive data from your Phone's SD Card. To prevent the data from being misused by any other app, the best implementation is to encrypt the data, but that will drop the performance of the device. On its 10th birthday, as a treat for mobile developers, Facebook has unveiled the source code of its Android security tool called ' Conceal ' cryptographic API Java library, that will allow app developers to encrypt data on disk in the most resource efficient way, with an easy-to-use programming interface. Smaller th
Vulnerability in Facebook app allows hackers to steal access tokens and hijack accounts

Vulnerability in Facebook app allows hackers to steal access tokens and hijack accounts

Oct 29, 2013
There are more than 100 Million users who are using Facebook mobile app. Facebook has fixed multiple critical vulnerabilities in its Android based applications that allows hackers to steal access tokens and hijack accounts. Egyptian security researcher Mohamed Ramadan, Security researcher with Attack Secure, has who disclosed  a couple of vulnerabilities in the Facebook Main app and Facebook messenger app and Facebook page's manager application for Android. User's access token is the key to accessing a Facebook account and according to him, an attacker only needs to send a message that contains an attachment of any type, i.e. Videos, documents, and pictures. Once the victim will click on that file to download, immediately victim's access_token will be stored in the Android's log messages called -  logcat ,  that enables other apps to grab user's access token and hijack the account. Video Demonstration: The second flaw which is reported by Ramadan
Facebook Graph Search becomes more powerful than ever, Review your Privacy Settings again

Facebook Graph Search becomes more powerful than ever, Review your Privacy Settings again

Oct 04, 2013
Facebook Graph Search is more powerful than ever, has been updated to allow people to search in greater depth on Facebook.  Facebook expanded its Graph Search to include posts and status updates, which means everything you've been posting is way easier to find than ever before. " Now you will be able to search for status updates, photo captions, check-ins and comments to find things shared with you ," says Facebook . For example, you could enter " Posts by my friends from last month ," or " Posts written at The White House " in order to find that specific information. Facebook's search is increasing in power much faster than people are realizing that their life is being digitally sorted and indexed. As Facebook widens its scope of searchable information, questions about privacy continue to rise. Facebook users should check their privacy settings if they want to limit the people who can search every post or status update they have ev
NSA’s #XKeyscore program could read Facebook Chats And Private Messages

NSA's #XKeyscore program could read Facebook Chats And Private Messages

Jul 31, 2013
According to a new report revealed by NSA leaker Edward Snowden , The National Security Agency has a secret program that allows it to see just about everything a person does on the Internet.  An NSA tool called DNI Presenter, used to read the content of stored emails, also enables an analyst using XKeyscore to read the content of Facebook chats or private messages.  An analyst can monitor such Facebook chats by entering the Facebook user name and a date range into a simple search screen. XKeyscore provides the technological capability, if not the legal authority, to target even US persons for extensive electronic surveillance without a warrant provided that some identifying information, such as their email or IP address, is known to the analyst. The Guardian has published several NSA training slides from the program: The NSA documents show that as of 2008, the X-Keyscore platform was used to nab 300 alleged terrorists around the world. Another
NSA's PRISM spy program, mining data from nine biggest Internet companies

NSA's PRISM spy program, mining data from nine biggest Internet companies

Jun 07, 2013
The National Security Agency , part of the U.S. military reportedly has a direct line into the systems of some of the world's biggest Web and tech companies, i.e Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Skype. The NSA access is part of a previously undisclosed program called PRISM , 6-year-old program which allows officials to collect real-time information and as well as stored material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats, according to reports in the Washington Post . Project PRISM may be the first of its kind and also  GCHQ , Britain's equivalent of the NSA, also has been secretly gathering intelligence from the same internet companies through an operation set up by the NSA. Later confirmed by the White House and members of Congress as saying that the government routinely seeks information in its fight to thwart domestic and international terrorism. Other services that are reportedly part of PRISM include PalTalk, Skype, and AOL.
Google bans Facebook and other self updating Android apps

Google bans Facebook and other self updating Android apps

Apr 26, 2013
Google just released a new Play Store version 4.0.27 that, contains only very minor tweaks and Google has changed the rules of its Google Play Store to put an end to the practice of developers updating their apps through their own means rather than the official Google Play channel. Shortly before the Facebook Home launch, some users noticed a new version of Facebook was available on their device, but it wasn't through the Play Store. Instead, the update came directly through the app, bypassing the Store altogether. Under the " Dangerous Products " section of the Google Play developer policies, Google now states that " an app downloaded from Google Play may not modify, replace or update its own APK binary code using any method other than Google Play's update mechanism. " Essentially this means that once an app is downloaded by an Android user it cannot contact home base and auto-update its own operating code. Instead, it has to use the off
Warm up your keyboard for Facebook Hacker Cup 2013

Warm up your keyboard for Facebook Hacker Cup 2013

Jan 09, 2013
Dear Hackers, Warm up your keyboards! Because Facebook open Registration for third Hacker Cup 2013, an annual worldwide programming competition where hackers compete against each other for fame, fortune, glory and a shot at the title of world champion, with $5,000 top prize. The qualification round begins on January 25th. So Participate and enhance your programming competency. The dates have been set for Facebook Hacker Cup 2013 Jan 7 — Jan 27 — Registration Jan 25 — Jan 27 — Online Qualification Round Feb 2 — Online Elimination Round 1 Feb 9 — Online Elimination Round 2 Feb 16 — Online Elimination Round 3 March 22 -23 — Onsite Finals at Facebook Registrations Page -  https://www.facebook.com/hackercup/register This is your chance to compete against the world's best programmers for awesome prizes and the title of World Champion.
Hacking Facebook Passwords like changing your own Password

Hacking Facebook Passwords like changing your own Password

Jan 08, 2013
Hacker found a way to hack and change your password like, just he used to change his own password. Confused ? Recently Facebook fix a very critical vulnerability on the tip of ' Sow Ching Shiong ' , an independent vulnerability researcher. Flaw allows anyone to reset the password of any Facebook user without knowing his last password. At Facebook, there is an option for compromised accounts at " https://www.facebook.com/hacked " , where Facebook ask one to change his password for further protection. This compromised account recovery page, will redirect you to another page at " https://www.facebook.com/checkpoint/checkpointme?f=[userid]&r=web_hacked " . Researcher notice that the URL of the page having a parameter called "f" which represents your user ID and replacing the user ID with victim's user ID allow him to get into next page where attacker can reset the password of victim without knowing his last password. The  Vulnera
Google, Paypal, Facebook Internal IP disclosure vulnerability

Google, Paypal, Facebook Internal IP disclosure vulnerability

Dec 31, 2013
Do you have any idea about an Internal IP Address or a Private IP Address that too assigned for Multinational Companies? Yeah, today we are gonna discuss about Internal IP or Private IP address Disclosure. Disclosure of an Internal IP like 192.168.*.* or 172.16.*.* , can really Impact ? Most security researchers call it as "bull shit" vulnerability. But when it comes to impact calculation even if the server is behind a firewall or NAT, an attacker can see internal IP of the remote host and this may be used to further attacks. Internet Giants like Facebook, Google, PayPal and Serious National Security organizations like FBI, Pentagon and NASA are taking initiatives for their Security Issues. At same, we at ' The Hacker News ' stand together for organizations that talk about national security in a serious way. I guess,its the time to understand about the flaws and its impacts where I would like to share my findings about our Internet Giants and Organiza
UK Intelligence recruiting brilliant minds for eavesdropping social networks

UK Intelligence recruiting brilliant minds for eavesdropping social networks

Nov 02, 2012
Government eavesdropping and security agency GCHQ is developing new tools to sift through them for nuggets of useful data from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest. All of these are the source of valuable intelligence that the UK's intelligence agencies want to know about. During a visit to Bletchley Park, UK foreign secretary William Hague launched a 'spy drive' to recruit staff for GCHQ and other intelligence agencies, a National Cipher Challenge for schools, and a £480,000 grant to the home of WW2 code-breaking. " The work involves devising algorithms, testing them and general problem solving in the broad field of language and text processing. This pioneering research work is open to specialist in mathematical/statistics, computational linguists (eg speech recognition and/or language processing) and language engineering ." Job Description explains . " Using data-mining techniques, you will help us to find meaningful patterns and relationships in large
Anonymous Threatens to Shutdown Facebook - Dude, do you have any Idea ?

Anonymous Threatens to Shutdown Facebook - Dude, do you have any Idea ?

Nov 02, 2012
Do you believe that it is possible to shut down Facebook with a cyber attack on 5th November 2012, which is not even organised in a proper way ? Few activists on internet threatened to shut down Zynga and Facebook, after the gaming giant announced it was laying off five per cent of its work force. Most obvious like other big fake claims, this claim is also not from the activist working as Anonymous Genuinely. Generally I am strong supporter of Anonymous or Wikileaks but the Idea behind Anonymous have lots of Pro and Con. I ask some Anonymous (who are actually managing major operations) to comment about the attack scheduled on 5th November by some unknown anonymous group, and their reply was simply -- " FAKE " . Facebook , Twitter and other social media sites and News organisations are giving you platform for spreading information, they are your voice with an amplifier. Do you think you can use your MIC after unplugging is ? If yes, then think again... Me
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